Direct instruction
The aim of this lesson was to build confidence in conducting experiments. To do this the class took part in a Kahoot testing their basic facts when written using numbers (4 × 3 = 12) and then re-testing to compare with how well they did when the basic facts were written using words (four times three equals twelve).
This video shows an explanation of the activity and students working through the two Kahoots.
Reflection
This lesson provided an engaging way to collect data (through Kahoot) and also had the potential to create interesting findings - the students (and I) didn't know if they would do better when the basic facts were written using numbers or using words. However, there were two major setbacks that happened during this lesson:
- the first setback was that the students (and I) struggled to see the difference between + and ÷, so when the number questions were projected on the board, it was hard to see what was actually being asked. To improve this for next time the students suggested using / to represent divide. However for this experiment it meant that the scores were being affected by this.
- the second setback was that because I tried using the Automatically move to next question feature for Kahoot, I missed downloading the results for a Kahoot. This meant that we had to restart the Kahoot and did not have enough time for the students to create their own graphs. Instead I quickly demonstrated how to graph the data using Google Sheets.
Instructions on Google+
Students to follow teacher's explanation of the experiment, projected on the board and on Google+.
Students then to complete the first Kahoot on basic facts with numbers before moving to the next Kahoot on basic facts with words.
To finish the lesson the students were going to create their own graphs using the data, but poor timing meant that the teacher quickly demonstrated how to graph the data using Google Sheets instead.
Next lesson the focus will be on creating graphs to analyse the data and form a conclusion.
